Posts tagged ground

A planning application has been put forward by two mobile phone companies to install a telephone mast at a rugby ground in Coventry.

Vodafone and O2 are proposing to install and share a 15m mobile telephone mast at the side of the Old Coventrians Rugby Football Club in Tile Hill Lane.

There have been six objections to the plan, which is set to go before Coventry City Council’s planning committee on Thursday.

One resident said there was no justification for the transmitter near a residential area, another raised concerns about other masts already existing on the site and others raised concerns on health grounds.

The council’s planning officers have advised the mast will only be acceptable in a residential area if applicants can show there are no alternative sites available and it is not visible from people’s windows or road junctions.

In the report, planning officer Kurt Russell, wrote: “Concern has been raised regarding the location of the equipment, and whether a site in the countryside or in an industrial area would be better.”

The application will be discussed by the planning committee on Thursday from 11am.

Apple has dipped from 4th place to 5th in terms of number of mobile handsets sold in the last quarter of 2010, according to International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker Report. Chinese mobile phone manufacturer ZTC, which made its mark developing lower cost phones but which has recently moved into the smartphone market, replaced Apple in 4th place, after Nokia, Samsung, and LG Electronics.

But it’s not all bad news for the Apple iPhone as the company experienced the highest year-on-year growth out of any of the top five, at 86.2%. They dramatically increased their market share over the same time period last year, and shipped over 2 million units more than in the previous quarter. The ranking change is down to a similarly strong year for ZTC and their prominence in populous Asian and African markets, while making inroads into European and Latin American countries as well.

Overall the industry had a buoyant 2010, its best year since 2006, with an overall jump of 18.5% over the number of units shipped in 2009, which has been put down to an improved economy as well as an increase in the number of affordable smartphones. Experts predict that demand for smartphones will continue to keep the sector healthy, and world-wide the sub-sector will likely account for up to 50% of all mobile phone sales going forward.

Mexican drug traffickers’ first car-bomb attack against police has revealed a new level of cold-blooded planning that is forcing this border city and security forces to change the way they confront violence.

Police said Friday that La Linea drug gang _ the same group blamed for the March killing of a U.S. consulate employee and her husband _ lured federal officers and paramedics to the site of a car bomb by dressing a bound, wounded man in a police uniform and calling in a false report of an officer shot.

The gang then exploded a car holding as much as 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of explosives, killing the decoy, a rescue worker and a federal officer. A regional military commander said a cell phone might have been used to detonate the bomb.

The gang promised to strike again, with graffiti painted on the wall of a Ciudad Juarez shopping center. “What happened … is going to keep happening against all the authorities,” the message read. “We have more car bombs.”

Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said city authorities “will have to change the way we operate. We’ve started changing all our protocols, to include bomb situations.”

He fears such attacks could hit the morale of his already overworked police force.

“Having attacks, direct attacks, on the police department creates the possibility of police just retiring or quitting,” he said.

Reyes Ferriz said at least 14 police officers or other law enforcement officials have been killed in the last few weeks in and around the city. The city has a police department of about 2,800 officers.

They are backed up by as many as 5,000 federal police, one of whom died in the Thursday car-bombing. The security equation has shifted for them too.

Civilian Ciudad Juarez residents also were emotionally shaken by the bombing, which scattered debris over a 300-yard (300-meter) radius and blew out the windows of a nearby home.

Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, has become one of the most dangerous cities in the world, with more than 4,000 people killed since the beginning of 2009.

Police said Thursday’s attack was in retaliation for the arrest of a top leader of the La Linea drug gang, Jesus Acosta Guerrero, earlier in the day.

Police said Acosta Guerrero, 35, was the “operations leader” of La Linea, which works for the Juarez drug cartel. He was responsible for at least 25 killings, mainly of rival gang members, and also ordered attacks on police.

Drug cartel battles have resulted in the deaths of about 25,000 people since late 2006 in Mexico.

While cartels have often used grenades and high-powered rifles against police and soldiers, Thursday’s attack was the first time a cartel has successfully used a sizable bomb to attack security forces.

Brig. Gen. Eduardo Zarate, the commander of the regional military zone, said as much as 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of explosives might have been used in the attack, adding that burned batteries connecting to a mobile phone were found at the scene.

Meanwhile in the northeastern border city of Nuevo Laredo, 12 people were killed and 21 wounded in running gun battles between soldiers and cartel gunmen on Friday.

Gunmen blocked some streets with hijacked vehicles at the height of the battles, which occurred at least three points in the city, prompting the U.S. Consulate to warn American citizens in the city to remain indoors.

Seven of the 21 wounded were listed in serious condition, the federal interior department said in a news statement, and three of the seriously wounded were children apparently caught in the crossfire.

The dead included nine suspected gunmen, two civilians and one soldier. Nuevo Laredo has been the scene of viscous turf battles between the Gulf cartel and their former allies, the Zetas drug gang.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Mexican drug traffickers’ first car-bomb attack against police has revealed a new level of cold-blooded planning that is forcing this border city and security forces to change the way they confront violence.

Federal police agents secure the area after members of a drug gang rammed a car into two police patrol vehicles in retaliation for the arrest of a top gang leader in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Thursday, July 15, 2010. Two officers and an emergency medical technician were killed and a cameraman at the scene was injured. (AP Photo) Federal police agents secure the area after members of a drug gang rammed a car into two police patrol vehicles in retaliation for the arrest of a top gang leader in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Thursday, July 15, 2010. Two officers and an emergency medical technician were killed and a cameraman at the scene was injured.(AP Photo) The remains of a vehicle are cordoned off in a street in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Friday July 16, 2010. Mexican investigators ran forensic tests to determine whether drug gangs used a car bomb in an attack on police patrol trucks that killed two officers and wounded nine people on Thursday. A car bomb would mark an unprecedented escalation of Mexico’s drug war and confirm long-standing fears that the cartels are turning to explosives in their fight against security forces. (AP Photo) The remains of a vehicle are cordoned off in a street in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Friday July 16, 2010. Mexican investigators ran forensic tests to determine whether drug gangs used a car bomb in an attack on police patrol trucks that killed two officers a day earlier. A car bomb would mark an unprecedented escalation of Mexico’s drug war and confirm long-standing fears that the cartels are turning to explosives in their fight against security forces. (AP Photo)

Police said Friday that La Linea drug gang — the same group blamed for the March killing of a U.S. consulate employee and her husband — lured federal officers and paramedics to the site of a car bomb by dressing a bound, wounded man in a police uniform and calling in a false report of an officer shot.

The gang then exploded a car holding as much as 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of explosives, killing the decoy, a rescue worker and a federal officer. A regional military commander said a cell phone might have been used to detonate the bomb.

The gang promised to strike again, with graffiti painted on the wall of a Ciudad Juarez shopping center. “What happened … is going to keep happening against all the authorities,” the message read. “We have more car bombs.”

Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said city authorities “will have to change the way we operate. We’ve started changing all our protocols, to include bomb situations.”

He fears such attacks could hit the morale of his already overworked police force.

“Having attacks, direct attacks, on the police department creates the possibility of police just retiring or quitting,” he said.

Reyes Ferriz said at least 14 police officers or other law enforcement officials have been killed in the last few weeks in and around the city. The city has a police department of about 2,800 officers.

They are backed up by as many as 5,000 federal police, one of whom died in the Thursday car-bombing. The security equation has shifted for them too.

Civilian Ciudad Juarez residents also were emotionally shaken by the bombing, which scattered debris over a 300-yard (300-meter) radius and blew out the windows of a nearby home.

Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, has become one of the most dangerous cities in the world, with more than 4,000 people killed since the beginning of 2009.

Police said Thursday’s attack was in retaliation for the arrest of a top leader of the La Linea drug gang, Jesus Acosta Guerrero, earlier in the day.

Police said Acosta Guerrero, 35, was the “operations leader” of La Linea, which works for the Juarez drug cartel. He was responsible for at least 25 killings, mainly of rival gang members, and also ordered attacks on police.

Drug cartel battles have resulted in the deaths of about 25,000 people since late 2006 in Mexico.

While cartels have often used grenades and high-powered rifles against police and soldiers, Thursday’s attack was the first time a cartel has successfully used a sizable bomb to attack security forces.

Brig. Gen. Eduardo Zarate, the commander of the regional military zone, said as much as 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of explosives might have been used in the attack, adding that burned batteries connecting to a mobile phone were found at the scene.

Meanwhile in the northeastern border city of Nuevo Laredo, 12 people were killed and 21 wounded in running gun battles between soldiers and cartel gunmen on Friday.

Gunmen blocked some streets with hijacked vehicles at the height of the battles, which occurred at least three points in the city, prompting the U.S. Consulate to warn American citizens in the city to remain indoors.

Seven of the 21 wounded were listed in serious condition, the federal interior department said in a news statement, and three of the seriously wounded were children apparently caught in the crossfire.

The dead included nine suspected gunmen, two civilians and one soldier. Nuevo Laredo has been the scene of viscous turf battles between the Gulf cartel and their former allies, the Zetas drug gang.

___

E. Eduardo Castillo reported from Mexico City.

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July 17, 2010 11:07 AM EDT

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